Strength of Heart
by Ejes
Summary: Master Xehanort was about to make Sora his thirteenth vessel. The boy, his heart asleep, couldn't do a thing, and neither Riku nor Mickey could move. But Lea would save him... Unless, of course, the former number VIII did not show up in time to rescue him. [DDD alternative ending, One shot]


_**This fic was requested by Bighead98. I will give the request at the end of the fic to avoid any spoiler. For now, enjoy ;)**_

* * *

"But first, the thirteen Darknesses shall be united." Master Xehanort said, standing up on his pure white seat. "All the seats have been filled." His amber eyes scanned the room, looking at the twelve other seats where eleven people in black coat were waiting. On the last seat was a young boy in red, barely conscious. Sora. "And now, the last vessel shall bear my heart, like the rest!"

Sora's seat, until now at ground level, elevated so high any fall would have endangered the boy's life.

"Sora!"

The King Mickey and Riku rushed to save their friend, but were stopped rather violently by Xehanort's vessels. Xemnas grabbed Mickey in the middle of a jump, preventing the mouse to move any more. Xehanort's Heartless pinned Riku to the ground. All they could do now was watch Sora's demise, helpless.

With a cruel laugh, Master Xehanort pointed his keyblade at Sora, sending a fragment of his heart right at the boy.

"Come on…" Whispered Mickey. "Come on, now…"

But nothing happened. There wasn't a huge explosion, no flames and no smoke screen. No Lea to save Sora. No one to save Sora.

And Xehanort's heart went right through the boy's chest.

"SORA!" Riku's painful scream reflected how scared he was. He had fought darkness before. In a way, he was still fighting it. And the thought of his best friend having to go through the same process - no, through a probably _worse_ process was unbearable. But it was too late now. It was too late.

* * *

"Soon, this place will be mine." Smirked Xehanort, a projection of his heart's fragment right into Sora's own heart. He was walking on the stained glass of the Dive to the Heart, and at every step, the glass lost its colours. Soon the glass would shatter, and he would be the true winner.

He stopped abruptly as he heard a _whoosh_ behind him. Had he kept walking, he would probably have been impaled by the keyblade he'd been thrown at.

"You are not welcome here." The voice was quiet, and yet full of hate. He slowly turned around, while the wielder summoned the weapon back.

"Go back to where you are from, or be prepared to be destroyed."

"Yes, yes. And you are?" He stared at the girl in front of him. She wore a black coat identical to the ones his vessels wore. Short black hair framed a round face with deep blue eyes. She flinched at his question, but her voice came out as steady as before.

"My name is Xion. And this place is not yours."

"And who will kick me out? You, alone?"

"She is not alone." Although the voice was familiar, the tone was different to what he was used to. A boy appeared behind Xion. The face was familiar, too.

"You… You are not Ventus, are you? Let me guess, my boy. You must be Roxas."

Roxas had a Keyblade in each hand, and his eyes expressed all of his anger. He was an open book. A really, really angry book.

"This heart doesn't belong to you." Spat the blonde boy, ready to attack at any moment. Xehanort scoffed. It was still two children against him. He would have been disappointed if Sora didn't fight back at least a little. Terra fought back for a long time before giving up.

"Then make me leave." His evil smile didn't reach his cold golden eyes. Roxas rushed on him, while Xion quickly rolled around him to reach his back. He painlessly blocked all of their attacks with one hand, the other one on his back.

"If you really want to get me out, you will have to try harder than than!"

But when he tried to move, finally fighting back to show them what true fighting skills were, he realised he couldn't. He quickly glanced down, to notice his feet were frozen, the ice slowly spreading to his legs. But how? None of the kids had used magic. He looked around, until he saw two sapphire eyes glowing in the dark. The figure stepped forward. Roxas? No. Not Roxas.

"Hello, Master Xehanort. Missed me? I thought you would be nostalgic of that day you almost froze me to death."

"Ventus." It made sense. The two others were merely decoys. Distractions, keeping him busy so that he would forget that Ventus was a resident as well. Roxas and Xion jumped back, their blades pointed at him. Judging by the tip of their weapons, they were both preparing Firagas, ready to throw them at him at any suspicious move.

"This is our last warning, Xehanort. Leave this place before we destroy that fragment of your heart."

The old Master bared his teeth in a menacing smirk. "That won't do, I'm afraid!"

And with a swift move, he cast a spell on the ice at his feet to break it. Nothing happened. He frowned, and tried again, with the same result. Ven crossed his arms and laugh.

"Is something the matter, Master? Can't move the way you want?"

"What is the meaning of that? What have you done?"

"We told you." Xion said, glaring at him.

"This place is not yours." Hissed Roxas.

The ice was now up to his chest, and he couldn't move at all anymore.

"You are not on the guest list, and you have no power here." Completed Ventus. "So now, if our host would like to…?"

He took a step on the left, revealing another figure. His thirteenth vessel himself. Sora had lost the childish face he was wearing out there, on his seat, his real, fifteen-year-old-self stepping in, glaring at him with a cold hatred.

"This heart is mine, Xehanort, and you will never have a room in it!"

He pointed his blade at him, a pure, white light glowing on its end.

"Goodbye, Xehanort."

He shot the light at the old man, who shattered into pieces, the fragment of heart he really was being destroyed.

"Now, Sora, don't you think it's about time to wake up?" chuckled Ven, giving a friendly punch on Sora's shoulder.

"Ha, look who's talking!" Answered Sora back, before looking at the people around him. "Thank you. All of you."

"Hurry up and kick him for real now." Groaned Roxas, while Xion simply smiled.

"Yeah. Let's go."

* * *

"This is… Impossible…"

Master Xehanort staggered back, his fist on his chest. Sora was standing on his seat, perfectly awake, the blue from his eyes colder than ever. He was wielding two keyblades, one of them being the Kingdom Key, the natural shape of his weapon, while the second one was no other than Wayward Wind, Ventus's own keyblade.

"Xehanort." A gust of wind, stronger than an Aeroga, pushed the old Master down from his seat - which led to a fall of many feet, before the hard floor stopped his fall. The man was still conscious, although in deep shock. Sora stepped forward, and the wind carried him down, making him land gracefully. Still, there was something dangerous about him, a threat in his aura.

"So...Ra?" Riku's faint voice called for him. Sora didn't react. He kept on walking towards Xehanort.

"You have done so many wrong things in your life. You have destroyed so much, so many worlds, so many lives."

"Sora, can you hear me?" Pleaded Riku, still unable to move due to the massive man blocking him.

"Aqua and Terra were my friends." Although it was still his voice, the tone was somewhat different. As if it was someone else speaking. "They were my friends, and you hurt them. You killed my Master. You hurt me. You have no right to live."

"Sora, what's going on?" Mickey's high pitched voice pierced through the room. But once again, Sora didn't answer.

"Axel and Xion were my best friends. We would eat ice-creams together. Axel taught me all I know. But you took them away from me! I want my life back! I want Xion back! I want Axel back!" His voice quivered but did not break. He took another step forward. One of his blade was now on Xehanort's chest, while the other was on his throat.

"I've always been a puppet, but I am not anymore. I am someone, Xehanort. You thought you could decide whether or not I had the right to live. Well, this decision is ours, now."

"WAIT!" Yelled Riku in a last desperate act. "Don't you see what you are doing? You stopped him from controlling Sora, but you are doing the exact same thing! If you want him to die, if you want Sora to kill him… Then let Sora do it. Let Sora make that decision. You have no more right than Xehanort to decide for him."

Sora turned his head to finally look at Riku, his eyes wide open. He tilted his head. "You are right. This was wrong. Sorry. And our apologies, Sora."

The teenager blinked a couple of times, life coming back to his eyes. He looked at Master Xehanort, at his own weapons.

"What is… What am I… Oh. I remember."

"You wouldn't kill an old man, now, would you?" If Xehanort had tried to sound mischievous, it sounded more like a desperate attempt to save his miserable life. Sora pressed the tip of his blade on the man's chest.

"What they said is right, Xehanort. You have destroyed countless destinies. Why should I spare you? Why would I have pity, when you had none for them?"

He took a deep breathe in, then sighed, lowering his blades.

"But I am not you. I am not sparing your life out of pity. I hate you, I hate everything you did and I think you deserve to be punished for that. But I won't kill you. I won't give you the pleasure of having my hands tainted with blood because of you. I will hand you over to Master Yen Sid, who will know exactly what to do of you. This is what I decided."

The man, still weak from the destruction of a part of his heart, couldn't do a thing. Not even his vessels reacted, all affected as well. All he did was whispering.

"We are out of time. Neither the union of Light nor Darkness has been successfully achieved. But the gathering of the Seven and Thirteen will happen, whether you want it or not."

The twelve vessels slowly disappeared in a cloud of darkness, releasing both Mickey and Riku. Master Xehanort was the only one left, crumpled on the floor.

Riku didn't think twice, and cast a spell to knock him out, before running to Sora.

"Sora, are you alright?"

"Riku… Your Majesty… I'm fine. I am… Fine." His legs gave in, and Riku quickly caught him.

"Is it ironic that I feel so tired, though?"

Riku chuckled. "Don't push yourself. We're getting you out of here. You are safe now. Let's leave this place. I'll help you."

"Umh, guys, do you know how we are going to carry _him_ to Master Yen Sid, though?" asked Mickey. "I don't think I can… And since you are carrying Sora…"

"Oh, did I miss all the fun?" The three of them jumped at the voice from behind them, turning back all together.

"Lea! Where were you? We were counting on you to-"

"I know, I know." The redhead sighed, waving at the mouse. "But do you think it was easy getting in there? Isa actually saw me, sent a huge load of gigantic Nobodies at me. Trust me, I came ASAP! So what happened? Did we win?"

" _Sora_ did, no thanks to you." Snapped Riku. "We're even lucky he got help from -"

"From Riku and Mickey!" Quickly interrupted Sora. "All three of us beat them. And now we are delivering Master Xehanort to Master Yen Sid! Would you mind carrying him, please?"

"Sure! I'm surprised he's still alive, though. _I_ wouldn't have shown mercy."

He threw the old man on his shoulder with no delicacy. Riku helped Sora climb on his back. As soon as he was comfortably set up, the brunette whispered to his best friend's ear.

"I think it's best if he doesn't know about what happened… With them. I think it would just make things a bit awkward."

Riku laughed. "Yeah, I can see your point. No worries. That will remain between us."

"What will?" asked Lea, his ears really sharp.

"Sora was just telling me how much he will blame you forever for showing up late, and how he will not fail to mention that to Master Yen Sid."

"What? No way, it's not my fault, I told you before! And he's fine anyway, so who knows, things could have gotten worse if I showed up! Think about it, smartass!"

While Lea and Riku bickered all the way to the Mysterious Tower, Sora rested, his chin on Riku's shoulder. He couldn't stop thinking about what happened, about how _they_ protected and saved him.

He owed them everything.

"Now it's my turn to save you." He whispered to his heart. And he could have sworn he heard three happy chuckles answering him back.

* * *

 _ **The prompt was basically "What if Lea failed to arrive in time at the end of DDD? But what if Sora's heart was stronger anyway?" I took a few liberties with the notion of "Sora's heart", allowing the cutie pies to show up and protect their host. Also, I had to rewatch a lot the cutscenes from DDD for the dialogues x')  
**_

 _ **Hope you liked it! Please do leave a review!**_


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